US funds penetrate Zimbabwe airwaves

The United States is secretly funding a radio station in London which has infuriated Robert Mugabe with its nightly broadcasts to Zimbabwe and led his government in Harare to blame the BBC.

SW Radio Africa, which broadcasts three hours a night on short wave from clandestine studios in Borehamwood, receives millions of dollars from a department of the US international development agency, the office of transition initiatives (OTI).

The Zimbabwean exiles running the station say the money comes from "human rights and media freedom groups" but decline to name them.

SWRA, which has been on the air for a month, has angered the Zimbabwean ruling party by giving the opposition a platform and providing a credible alternative to the endless diet of propaganda and falsehoods on state radio.

It has embarrassed and irritated British officials, who have publicly denied that Britain plays any role in it.

The Zimbabwean information minister, Jonathan Moyo, has accused the BBC of providing it with studios, transmitters and frequencies but the BBC World Service director, Mark Byford, says the BBC has no connection with it.

Diplomatic sources say OTI pays for the studios, equipment and airtime on the transmitters of what SWRA calls a "global communications provider" but declines to name.

The Voice of America, which is owned by the US government, has transmitters in a number of southern and central African states.

The US embassy in Harare said it could not confirm or deny Washington"s involvement. SWRA's spokeswoman, Georgina Godwin, said by email that the funding came from "human rights/media freedom groups", but would answer no further questions.

SW Radio Africa is headed by Gerry Jackson, who was sacked by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation five years ago for broadcasting telephone calls describing police brutality.

She then opened an independent station, which the police closed after six days.